Pokemon Shippuden

Chapter 3: A Change In Scenery

The hours of the day blurred by while Ricardo killed off brain cells snacking and endlessly consuming daytime television flipping through channels. The monotony was broken by the doorbell ringing. He snapped away from the TV and looked out the window, somehow it was dark already. Shay should've been home and she certainly wouldn't have had to ring, prompting a few things to run through his mind while he got close to the peephole.

"Nigga I hear you walking in there. Come help with these groceries."

Ricardo sighed in relief. Proof again, if anything was solid in life, she was definitely it.

"Nah, only if you got my Swanna eggs."

"You cleaned my couch?"

Ricardo opened the door and got the groceries from Shay's hands. "You worrying 'bout the wrong thing."

"Don't even matter, I can see the stain from here. You can start telling me what happened earlier though."

Ricardo set the groceries down on the kitchen counter. "Ight... so like.. I got my ass beat.."

He started off the story from when he was approached and went into detail about the battle.

"Okay." Shay interrupted. "So about how long did this last?"

"Yeaaa... probably 20 seconds. Maybe 25 from start to K.O."

"Wow. ESPN really exaggerates how long the battles are."

"No cap. And at the end he tried to make a life lesson out of it and shit."

"L! M! A! O!" Shay laughed "And how did he manage to do that?"

"He was just telling me simple shit like I needed experience. I really wasn't trying to hear it. And then he gave me his number."

"You lying."

Ricardo squinted. "How? I got it right here." He pulled out the crusty chinese fortune slip with numbers scribbled on it.

Shay folded her arms. "So he's interested."

"See I thought so too, but he told me straight up I don't have any talent and practically kicked me out of the line."

"And this was before or after you got his number?"

"Before. I'm almost certain he gave me this out of pity. Said to call it when the auditions finish up at the end of the month."

Shay slapped his arm. "Dumbass. That man is interested." She got up to put the groceries away "So I know two things right now. First, you need to get up off your lazy ass and get in shape. And second--"

"Clean your couch?"

"It's fucking crusty ain't it??"

Ricardo moaned. "Man damn girl. I got you, I got you." He rose up off his favorite butt print and helped Shay put the groceries away then got a wet rag to clean the egg up. It didn't come all the way out but he figured it was alright, the yolk kind of blended in with the brown anyway.

The next morning Ricardo was sound asleep holding Shay in bed. She purposefully turned her alarm off that morning and slithered out of the sheets at a ripe 5:44 AM to go to the kitchen for a glass of water. She put a few ice cubes in it for good measure and made her way back to the room. Who doesn't like a cold drink in the morning? She stood over Ricardo and an evil grin grew on her face while she tipped the glass over.

"uhhHHHH AHHHHH!!" Ricardo flopped around the bed like something electrocuted him before coming to and looking at Shay with her mischievous mug smiling ear to ear. "What in the world?!?"

"Time to get up bitch! I wasn't playing about you getting in shape!" Shay pointed to the door. "Make a lap round the block and I'll let you back in."

"Dead." Ricardo laid in the wet spot. "And you cleaning up this mess you made."

Shay, however, was about as serious as they come and set the glass down. "Rick." She clapped her hands.  "I. Am. Not. Playing. You better have your ass out that door or all your shit will be. Bust a move nigga."

After about an hour of groaning he hauled himself into something loose fitting and took off outside the house. He kept a brisk jogging pace but still burned out only a few minutes later and decided to speed walk instead. He didn't notice much of the city he lived in, save for a few alleyways that his plug dwelled in. The "block" Shay told him to go around was quite long and he had to admit, kind of interesting for an early morning. The backside of the building next to theirs had a ribombee infestation and joltik were practically everywhere. There were some kids holding something of a fight circle with wild rattata barking commands that the Pokemon clearly didn't understand or even acknowledge. And a construction crew working on the road used a mixture of Machokes and Emboar on their team unlike the pure Conkeldurr teams seen on television.

"Hey buddy!" Ricardo called out getting one of the worker's attention. "Is that your pokemon?"

"Rentals. Our company lends 'em out to our onsite coordinator."

"Oh. Y'all make good money though, ever considered getting your own?"

"Ha! Maybe if I was single with no kids! Damn pocket bastards would run my bank dry."

Ricardo stopped walking. "They ain't that expensive bro."

The man working came up closer to talk. "Like hell they ain't." He held up three fingers "You gotta factor in the upkeep on the Pokeball, the food you buying for 'em, and some places like to charge you a fat fucking fee just for having them."

There was a loud whistle and the worker continued talking. "That's it for my shift. We outta here before the morning traffic picks up. Whatcha got going on out here at a crisp 8 in the morning?"

"Yea I'm just..." Ricardo's phone buzzed. It was a text from Shay. "Yea. Just decided I wanted a change in scenery. Supposed to be a jog and you can see how this is going."

"Better be on your way then. Name's Grant."

"Ricardo." They shook hands and he picked up his jog again.

He made it back to the condo and immediately flopped back onto the couch then pulled out his phone. "8:44. A little over an hour and a half." He checked the message Shay had sent. Busy girl but affectionate.He set his phone down and closed his eyes. "That was the last time I get dragged out of bed like that..."